How Aurora B activity is controlled at centromeres in mitosis

Dear All,

Cell Signal Unit (Yamamoto Unit) would like to inform you of a seminar by Dr. Toru Hirota from Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Time: 13:00-14:00

Venue: D015, Level D, Lab 1

-----------------------------------------------------------

 
Speaker:

Dr. Toru Hirota, Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research

Title:
How Aurora B activity is controlled at centromeres in mitosis

Abstract:
Due to the stochastic nature of the microtubule interactions at kinetochores, releasing incorrect attachments is crucial for chromosomes to achieve bi-orientation on the mitotic spindle. Vital for this cellular function is the activity of mitotic kinase Aurora B, and multiple feedback mechanisms have been proposed to maintain sufficient levels of its kinase activity at centromeres. Our previous work showed that a deficiency of this robust control of Aurora B widely affects chromosomal stability in cancer cells (Abe et al., 2016). In this mechanism, how mechanistically cells convey the activity of Aurora B enriched at centromeres to kinetochore substrates remains enigmatic. To address this question, we have been studying structure of the Aurora B complex, or the Chromosomal Passenger Complex (CPC), and found that it is HP1 association with the CPC that allows Aurora B to access kinetochore substrates. The results seem to explain why cells with little contribution of HP1 to Aurora B function become prone to chromosome segregation errors.

Host:
Prof. Tadashi Yamamoto

We hope to see many of you at the seminar.

Best regards,

Yuki Nakagawa

Research Unit Administrator

Cell Signal Unit